Why the woke movement matters today

Why the woke movement matters today

Commentary by Walter Hesford | FāVS News

“Trump’s victory: A rejection of elites and woke agendas,” gloats Dale Courtney, a conservative Moscow-Pullman Daily News commentator, in a recent column.

And, in the aftermath of the election, liberal commentators I admire have joined in the denunciation of staying woke. 

Maureen Dowd, for example, writes in The New York Times, “Some Democrats are finally waking up and realizing that woke is broke.”

Not me.

While I understand that some “woke” assertions may offend the ears of many Americans, I hope to stay woke out of respect for the woke movement’s deep roots in Black American history and out of fear for what the escalating war against woke will mean for the welfare of our country.

“[B]est stay woke” advises Huddie Ledbetter, aka Lead Belly, in remarks following his 1931 “Scottsboro Boys” ballad about nine Black boys and men falsely accused of raping white women and unjustly convicted of this crime. To “stay woke” meant to take care lest you too fall victim to a racist culture if you are Black.”

To “stay woke” came to mean more broadly to stay aware of historic, systemic racism in this country. In my opinion, anyone who does not share this awareness is surely asleep, blind to reality. Yet throughout this country there has been a successful effort to keep this reality out of school curricula and public libraries, an effort that will doubtless increase under Trump’s rule.

Other liberation movements have built on the “stay woke” movement within Black culture. Women fighting for equal rights and the LGBTQ+ community fighting for equal protection under the law have also asked us to “stay woke.” Members of this community as well as women are likely to be attacked in the war against woke.

Pete Hegseth’s ‘un-woke’ ideal America

If confirmed, Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, will be at the forefront of this war. 

“Any general that was involved, general, admiral, whatever, that was involved in any of the DEI woke sh** has got to go,” declares Hegseth in a recent NPR story. He promises to remove from the military all efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, and also to remove women from combat.

The roots of Hegseth’s zeal against woke are religious. As Mike Baker and Ruth Graham note in “Pete Hegseth and His New ‘Battle Cry’ for a New Christian Crusade,” he has for years called for a new Crusade and currently belongs to a church in the fold of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a denomination co-founded by Moscow’s Doug Wilson. Hegseth admires Wilson’s strong patriarchal views and his brand of Christian nationalism. He plans to send his children to school in Wilson’s New St. Andrews College in Moscow.

As those of us who live here know, Wilson seeks dominion over our town. If this happens, women will have to keep their submissive place. And there will be no place at all for those who do not conform to hetero-normative orthodoxy. 

Keeping our eyes open

Thus we need to stay woke to support progressive women and members of the LGBTQ+ community locally and nationally. We especially need to support our transgendered neighbors who have been subjected to vicious attacks during the war on woke.

We also need to stay woke for the welfare of our Earth, our home. The war against woke will continue to wage war against our environment, challenging laws that protect it and forwarding the agenda of the fossil fuel industry. The increased heat due to human-caused global warming might lull us into sleep if we don’t stay woke.

In one of the traditional Scripture readings for the first Sunday of Advent, Jesus twice urges his followers to “keep awake” so that they are ready for his return (Mark 13:35-37). Since Christians ask Jesus to return during this season, we might want to consider how best to keep awake for the coming of his beloved kingdom. We certainly should be wary of crusades against woke promoted by false prophets who want to dominate us.

Until God’s kingdom come, it would be wise to heed Lead Belly’s advice: “best stay woke.”

The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.